Railway-frog.



2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. G. BLFBORG.

RAILWAY FROG. APPLICATION mun nov. 27, 190B.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

H. G. EL'FBORG. RAILWAY FROG.

APPLIGATIOH FILED NOV. 27, 1908.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HENRY G. ELFBORG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-FROG.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

Application filed November 27, 1908. Serial No. 464,799.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Gr. ELFBORG, a citizen of the United States,residingat Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Frogs, of whichthe following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a railway frog constructed ofhard metal, such as 1nanganesesteel, or other suitable alloy, the frogbeing so constructed as to provide a junction with the rails of suchform that the passage of the wheels thereover will not result in rapidwear; and to provide means whereby the frog and rails may be assembledand laid in place with the minimum amount of labor.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from the followingdescription and claims, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a general view of my improved frog andthe railway track and switch to which it is applied. Fig. 2 is a planview of the frog and the adjacent part of the rails.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the frog, with the rails shown in dottedlines. Figs. at, 5 and 6 are sectional views on the lines 4i l:, 55 and66 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a side view of the heel end of the frog and partof the adjacent rail. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are plan side and end views,respectively, of the end portion of one of the rails adjacent theheelend of the frog, the original form of the rail before bending andcutting being shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a wedgeused between the rails at the toe end of the frog. Fig. 12 is a planview of one of the rails as bent and cut for attachment to the toe endof the frog.

As is well known the wear upon railway frogs is much more rapid, as theresult of the violent blows to which they are subjected,

than upon other parts of a railway track. In order to overcome thisdifficulty it has previously been proposed to construct the frog pointand some of the adjacent parts of manganese-steel, or other hard alloy,but the use of such devices has developed other diflicult-ies at thepoint of junction between the hard alloy and steel rails, and theassemblage of the parts in some instances leads to more or lessdifficulty on account of their complicated form. f

As clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings and other views, I constructthe hard metal frogin a single integral piece, the wing rails and pointrails terminating at the ends thereof, and substitute for the wing railsintegral wing flanges 1, cast upon and forming part of the frog. Takenin its entirety, my improved frog includes in' a single integralstructure base flanges 2, vertical webs 8, connected by a floor plate 3,a point 4, wing flanges 1, transverse strengthening webs 6 extendingbetween the base flanges and wing flanges, transverse strengthening webs7 extending between the vertical webs 8, and end extensions for theattachment of the rails.

At-the toe end of the frog,fthat is the left end as viewed in Fig. 2 andthe right end as viewed in Fig. 3,the wing flanges 1 are continuedbeyond the base of the frog, forming extensions 9 between which the endsof the rails 10-10 are received. The extensions 99 are recessed, formingshoulders 11 adapted to lie directly beneath the heads of the rails andsupport the same, and the outer side of the rail head is planed away at12 sufliciently to form a right angle at 13 for the purpose of forming atight junction with the extension 9, thus avolding the difliculty offitting said extension over the rounded top corner of the rail head. Theextensions 9 are tapered on their inner faces from the body of the frogoutwardly, for the purpose of forming a diagonal junction with theattached rails which are received between said extensions.

The rails 10 are prepared for attachment to the frog by first bendingthem at about the point indicated by the arrow A in Fig.

12. The inner side of the rail head is then planed away at 14 to makethe gage line of the bent part of the rail continuous with that of theremainder of the rail. The extent of the bend in the rail is such thatthe planing away at let to straighten the gage line cuts the headsubstantially down to the web at the end of the rail, as shown in Fig.12. As previously explained, the outer side of the rail head is planedoff at 12, as indicated in Figs. Land 12, for the purpose of making asquare joint with the extension 9, the form of the rail after bendingand before cutting being'indicated by-the dotted line 15 in Fig. 12.Owing to the bending of the rail the edge 12 lies on a diagonal linecorresponding to the inside taper 0n the extension 9, thus formingthe-diagonal oint therewith.

The efl'ect 0f the diagonal joint along the line 12 is to cause tread ofa passing wheel to pass gradually from the steel rail to the hardenedfrog, thus avoiding the shock incident to riding over a squaretransverse joint. Furthermore, the shoulder 11, shown in Fig. 4 lyingbeneath the rail head, firmly supports the rail and keeps the uppersurface of the extension 9 in the same plane With the head of the rail.By this means a smooth surface at the joint is assured, and allpossibility of the rail and frog settling or wearing out of alinement isavoided. Registering bolt holes are provided in the extensions 9 and theends of the rails 10, and also in a wedge 16, shown in detail in Fig.11. After the ends of the rails 10 are inserted between the extensions9, the wedge 16 is driven home and the parts secured together by bolts17, as shown in the drawing. In some instances it may be found desirableto construct the wedge 16 in two parts di vided on a transverse line inorder to avoid the frictional resistance encountered in driving theentire wedge to its seat.

At the heel end of the frog the point A is continued beyond the base,forming a central extension 18 adapted to lie between the ends of thepoint rails 19. The extension 18 is tapered outwardly and provided witha shoulder 20 adapted to lie beneath the heads of the wing rails 19. Theextension 18 may also be cored out below, as shown in Fig. 6, and theside portions are formed to fit against the webs and bases of the rails,thus insuring a firm support for the heads holding the upper surfaces ofthe rails and extension 18 in the same plane. Projecting from the baseof the frog, at either side of the extension 18, are lips 25, adapted tolie below the head and upon the outside of the web of the adjoiningrail, thus assisting in holding the rail against the extension 18.

The rails 19 are prepared for connection with the frog by imparting tothem a slight outward bend, as indicated at the point lettered-B inFigs. 2 and 8. After being so bent, the heads of the rails 19 are cutaway on the line 26, in order to bring the gage line of the rail beyondthe bend in alinement with the gage line of the remainder of the rail.As illustrated in Fig. 2, the amount of the bend imparted to the rail 19is such that I the cutting line 26 reaches the web of the rail just atthe end thereof. The inner side of the heads of the rails19, beyond thebend, are cut away on the lines 27 to make a squared junction with theextension 18, and such cutting away together with the bend in the railgives rise to a diagonal joint with the extension 18, whereby the wheelspass gradually from the rail to the manganese frog. After assemblage,the rails 19 and frog are held together by means of the bolts28. r

I would have it understood that I do not desire to limit myself to theprecise construction and arrangement of parts shown in the drawings andherein described, as various modifications and alterations may be madewithout departing from my original invention.

IVhat I claim is:

1. A railway frog comprising in one integral structure, a base, a point,wing flanges, and beveled extensions of said flanges at one end and ofsaid point at the other end.

2. A railway frog comprising in one integral structure, a base, a point,wing flanges, extensions of said wing flanges at one end and of saidpoint at the other end, and lugs at the base of and spaced from saidpoint extension.

3. A railway frog comprising in a single integral structure, a base, apoint, and wing flanges, said wing flanges being extended at one end ofthe frog beyond the main body thereof, said extensions being tapered.

4. In combination, a railway frog comprising in a single integralstructure, a base, a point, wing flanges, said wing flanges beingextended at one end beyond the main body of the frog, and two trackrails the ends of which are received between and lie against saidextensions, the ends of said rails and extensions being tapered to formdiagonal joints.

5. In combination, a railway frog comprising in a single integralstructure, a base, a point, wing flanges, said wing flanges beingextended at one end beyond the main body of the frog, two track railsthe ends of which are received between and lie against extensions, theends of saidrails and extensions being tapered to form diagonal joints,a spacing wedge between the ends of said rails, and bolts passingthrough said extensions, rails and spacing wedge.

6. In combination, a railway frog comprising in a single integralstructure, a base, a point, wing flanges, said wing flanges beingextended at one end beyond the main body of the frog and tapered, andtrack rails the ends of which are received between and lie against saidextensions, the end portions of said rails being bent toward each other,the inner side of the head of said rail beyond the bend being tapered tomake a straight gage line continuous with the remainder of the railhead, and the outer inclined side of the rail head lying against saidtapered extension to make a diagonal joint therewith.

7. In combination, a railway frog comprising in a single integralstructure, a base, a point, wing flanges, said wing flanges beingextended at one end beyond the main body of the frog and tapered, andtrack rails the ends of which are received between and 7 the inner sideof the head of each rail beyond the bend being tapered to make astraight gage line continuous with the remainder of the rail head, andthe outer inclined side of the rail head lying against said taperedextension to make a. diagonal joint therewith, said outer inclined sideof the rail head being cut away to reduce the rounded upper corner to aright angle.

8. A railway frog comprising in one integral structure, a base, a point,Wing flanges,

said wing flanges extending at one end of the frog beyond the basethereof, said extensions being beveled on their inner faces and formedto fit between the base and head of 15 an attached rail.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed F. MCDONALD.

